Laws of the People's Republic of China

CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS

CHAPTER II SUPERVISION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION

CHAPTER III PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION BY THE BURNING OF COAL

CHAPTER IV PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION BY WASTE GAS, DUST AND MALODOROUS SUBSTANCES

CHAPTER V LEGAL LIABILITY

CHAPTER VI SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS

   Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purpose of preventing and controlling atmospheric pollution, protecting and improving people's environment and the ecological environment, safeguarding human health, and promoting the development of socialist modernization.

   Article 2 The State Council and the local people's governments at various levels must incorporate the protection of the atmospheric environment into the national economic and social development plans, make rational plans for the distribution of industry, strengthen scientific research on the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution, adopt preventive and curative measures against atmospheric pollution, and protect and improve the atmospheric environment.

   Article 3 The environmental protection departments of the people's governments at various levels shall be the organs conducting unified supervision and management of the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution.

The administrative departments of public security, transportation, railways and fishery at various levels shall, by performing their respective functions, conduct supervision and management of the atmospheric pollution caused by motorized vehicles and vessels.

   Article 4 Units that discharge atmospheric pollutants must comply with the relevant state provisions and take measures to prevent and control pollution.

   Article 5 All units and individuals shall have the obligation to protect the atmospheric environment and shall have the right to report on or file charges against units or individuals that cause pollution to the atmospheric environment.

   Article 6 The environmental protection department under the State Council shall establish the national standards for atmospheric environment quality.

The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may establish their local standards for items not specified in the national standards for atmospheric environment quality and report the same to the environmental protection department under the State Council for the record.

   Article 7 The environmental protection department under the State Council shall, in accordance with the national standards for atmospheric environment quality and the country's economic and technological conditions, establish the national standards for the discharge of atmospheric pollutants.

The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may establish their local discharge standards for items not specified in the national standards for the discharge of atmospheric pollutants; with regard to items already specified in the national standards for the discharge of atmospheric pollutants, they may set local discharge standards which are more stringent than the national discharge standards and report the same to the environmental protection department under the State Council for the record.

Units that discharge atmospheric pollutants in areas where the local discharge standards have been established shall observe such local standards.

   Article 8 The State adopts economic and technological policies and measures to facilitate the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution and comprehensive utilization.

Units or individuals that have made outstanding achievements in the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution or in the protection and improvement of the atmospheric environment shall be rewarded by the people's governments at various levels.

   Article 9 The people's governments at various levels shall redouble their efforts in afforestation and urban greening to improve the atmospheric environment.

CHAPTER II SUPERVISION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF

   Article 10 New construction projects, extensions or reconstruction projects which discharge atmospheric pollutants shall be governed by the State regulations concerning environmental protection for such projects.

The environmental impact statement on a construction project must assess the atmospheric pollution the project is likely to produce and its impact on the ecosystem and stipulate the preventive and curative measures; the statement shall be submitted, according to the specified procedure, to the environmental protection department concerned for examination and approval.

When a construction project is to be put into operation or to use, its facilities for the prevention of atmospheric pollution must be inspected by the environmental protection department; construction projects that do not fulfill the requirements specified in the State regulations concerning environmental protection for such construction projects shall not be permitted to be put into operation or to use.

   Article 11 Units that discharge atmospheric pollutants must, pursuant to the provisions of the environmental protection department under the State Council, report to the local environmental protection department its existing discharge and treatment facilities for pollutants and the categories, quantities and concentrations of pollutants discharged under normal operation conditions and submit to the same department the relevant technical data concerning the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution.

Units shall report in time on any substantial change in the categories, quantities or concentrations of the pollutants discharged. When pollutant treatment facilities are to be dismantled or left idle, permission from the local environmental protection department must be obtained.

   Article 12 If the discharge of pollutants by a unit exceeds the prescribed standards, it shall take effective measures to control the pollution and pay a fee for excessive discharge according to State regulations. The fee thus levied must be used for the prevention and control of pollution.

If an enterprise or institution causes severe atmospheric pollution, it shall be ordered to eliminate and control the pollution within a certain period of time.

   Article 13 Within the scenic or historic sites, nature reserves and other zones that need special protection, as designated by the State Council and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, no industrial production installations that cause environmental pollution shall be built; other installations to be built in these areas must not exceed the prescribed standards for pollutant discharge. Enterprises and institutions which, before the enforcement of this Law, have built installations discharging more pollutants than are specified by the prescribed discharge standards shall be ordered to eliminate and control such pollution within a certain period of time.

   Article 14 For enterprises or institutions under the jurisdiction of a people's government at or below the city or county level, a deadline for the elimination or control of pollution shall be proposed by the environmental protection department of the people's government at the city or county level and shall be reported to the people's government at the corresponding level for decision. For enterprises and institutions directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Government or the people's government of a province, an autonomous region or a municipality directly under the Central Government, such a deadline shall be proposed by the environmental protection department of the people's government of a province, an autonomous region or a municipality directly under the Central Government and shall be reported to the people's government at the corresponding level for decision.

   Article 15 Enterprises shall give priority to the adoption of clean production techniques that are instrumental to high-efficient use of energy and reduced discharge of pollutants so as to decrease the generation of atmospheric pollutants.

The State practises an elimination system for the backward production techniques and backward equipment which seriously pollutes the atmospheric environment.

The competent department for comprehensive economic and trade affairs under the State Council shall, in conjunction with other relevant departments under the State Council, publish a catalog of the techniques which seriously pollute the atmospheric environment and the use of which shall be prohibited within a time limit, and a catalog of the equipment which seriously pollutes the atmospheric environment and the production, sale, importation and use of which shall be prohibited within a time limit.

Producers, sellers, importers or users shall, within the time limit prescribed by the competent department for comprehensive economic and trade affairs under the State Council in conjunction with the relevant departments under the State Council, stop the production, sale, importation or use of the equipment listed in the catalog specified in the preceding paragraph. People who use the production techniques listed in the catalog specified in the preceding paragraph shall, within the time limit prescribed by the competent department for comprehensive economic affairs under the State Council in conjunction with the relevant departments under the State Council, stop using such techniques.

The equipment eliminated in accordance with the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs may not be transferred to another for use.

   Article 16 Any unit that, as a result of an accident or any other exigency, discharges or leaks toxic or harmful gas or radioactive substances, thereby causing or threatening to cause an accident of atmospheric pollution and jeopardize human health, must promptly take emergency measures to prevent and control the atmospheric pollution hazards, make the situation known to such units and inhabitants as are likely to be endangered by the atmospheric pollution hazards, report the case to the local environmental protection department and accept its investigation and disposal.

Under the urgent circumstances of a severe atmospheric pollution that jeopardizes human health and safety, the local people's government must take compulsory emergency measures, including ordering the pollutant discharging units concerned to stop the discharge of pollutants.

   Article 17 The environmental protection departments and other supervisory and management departments shall be empowered to make onsite inspections of units under their jurisdiction that discharge pollutants. The units being inspected must truthfully report the situation to them and provide them with the necessary information. The inspecting authorities shall have the obligation to keep confidential the technological know-how and business secrets of the units inspected.

   Article 18 The environmental protection department under the State Council shall set up a monitoring system for atmospheric pollution, organize a monitoring network and work out unified monitoring measures.

CHAPTER III PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION BY THE

   Article 19 The competent department concerned under the State Council shall, pursuant to the standards for boiler soot discharge prescribed by the State, stipulate corresponding requirements in the boiler quality standards; boilers that do not meet the prescribed requirements shall not be permitted to be manufactured, sold or imported.

   Article 20 The soot discharge of newly-built industrial kilns and newly- installed boilers shall not exceed the prescribed discharge standards.

   Article 21 Urban construction shall be conducted on the basis of over- all planning, the unified provision of heat sources and the development of central heating.

   Article 22 The relevant departments under the State Council and the local people's governments at various levels shall adopt measures to improve the urban fuel structure, develop urban gas supply, and popularize the production and utilization of shaped coal.

   Article 23 When coal, gangue, coal cinder, coal ashes or lime is stored in densely inhabited areas, fire and dust prevention measures must be taken in order to prevent atmospheric pollution.

   Article 24 The State promotes the dressing of coal by washing to reduce the sulfur and ash in coal, and restricts the mining of high-sulfur or high-ash coal. If the coal mined from a newly-built coal mine is of high-sulfur or high-ash, supporting facilities for the dressing of coal by washing shall be installed to make the sulfur and ash in coal fall within the prescribed limits.

If the coal mined from an established coal mine is of high-sulfur or high-ash, supporting facilities for the dressing of coal by washing shall be installed within a time limit in accordance with the plan approved by the State Council.

It is prohibited to mine the coal with toxic or harmful substances, such as radioactive and arsenic, that exceed the prescribed limits.

   Article 25 People's governments of large or medium-sized cities shall make plans for people in the urban areas to use sulfur-fixed briquette of coal as fuel or other clean fuel for cooking ranges, so as to gradually eliminate the direct use of raw coal as fuel.

   Article 26 To establish a heat-engine plant within the urban areas of a city, both heating and electricity shall be generated where it is necessary and conditions permit, and construction and acceptance for use of the network of pipelines for heat supply shall be arranged in step with that of the main project of the plant.

   Article 27 The environmental protection department under the State Council together with relevant departments under the State Council may, in light of the meteorological, topographical, soil and other natural conditions, delimit the areas where acid rain has occurred or will probably occur and areas that are seriously polluted by sulfur dioxide as acid rain control areas and sulfur dioxide pollution control areas, subject to approval by the State Council.

With respect to the heat-engine plants and other large or medium-sized enterprises in the acid rain control areas or sulfur dioxide pollution control areas that discharge sulfur dioxide, if they are newly-built construction projects which cannot use low-sulfur coal, supporting facilities for desulphurization and dust removal must be installed or other measures for control of the discharge of sulfur dioxide or for dust removal adopted; if they are established enterprises which do not use low-sulfur coal, measures for control of discharge of sulfur dioxide or for dust removal shall be adopted. The State encourages enterprises to adopt advanced technology for desulphurization and dust removal.

Enterprises shall gradually adopt measures to control the nitrogen oxide generated by the burning of coal.

CHAPTER IV PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION BY WASTE GAS, DUST AND

   Article 28 The discharge of toxic waste gas and dust into the atmosphere shall be strictly restricted. When such discharge is really necessary, the discharged gas or dust shall undergo purification treatment and shall not exceed the prescribed discharge standards.

   Article 29 Inflammable gas engendered during industrial production shall be recovered for utilization; if such gas is discharged into the atmosphere due to the absence of the means of recovery for utilization, it shall undergo treatment for the prevention and control of pollution.

The discharge into the atmosphere of converter gas, acetylene, yellow phosphoric tail gas engendered by the electric furnace process, and organic hydrocarbon tail gas must be reported to the local environmental protection department for approval.

When the discharge of inflammable gas is really necessary because of the malfunctioning of the recovery and re-use installations, the inflammable gas discharged shall be fully burnt, or other measures shall be taken, to reduce atmospheric pollution.

   Article 30 Units that discharge sulphide-bearing gas in the process of refining petroleum, producing synthetic ammonia or coal gas, cooking fuel coal and smelting non-ferrous metal shall be equipped with desulphurizing installations or shall adopt other measures for desulphurization.

   Article 31 The discharge of gases and aerosols containing radioactive substances into the atmosphere must comply with state provisions on radioactivity protection and must not exceed the prescribed discharge standards.

   Article 32 Units that discharge malodorous gases into the atmosphere must take measures to prevent the pollution of neighboring residential areas.

   Article 33 Units that discharge dust into the atmosphere must adopt measures to remove such dust.

   Article 34 The burning of asphalt, asphalt felt, rubber, plastics, leather and other materials that may produce toxic or harmful smoke or dust or malodorous gases in densely inhabited areas shall be prohibited; when, under special circumstances, such burning is really necessary, it must be reported to the local environmental protection department for approval.

   Article 35 In the transportation, loading and unloading, and storage of substances that may diffuse toxic or harmful gases or dust, sealing or other protective measures must be taken.

   Article 36 Operators of the catering trade in urban areas must observe the regulations of the State Council on the administration of environmental protection in relation to the catering trade, and adopt measures to prevent and control the pollution caused by lampblack to the residential environment in the neighbourhood.

   Article 37 Motorized vehicles and vessels shall not be permitted to discharge atmospheric pollutants in excess of the prescribed discharge standards; measures shall be taken to deal with motorized vehicles and vessels that discharge atmospheric pollutants in excess of the prescribed discharge standards. Automobiles that discharge pollutants in excess of the national discharge standards shall not be permitted to be manufactured, sold or imported. Specific measures for supervision and management shall be formulated by the State Council.

   Article 38 The State encourages and supports the production and use of high-grade, unleaded gasoline and restricts the production and use of leaded gasoline.

Relevant competent departments under the State Council shall make plans for gradually reducing the production of leaded gasoline so as finally to stop the production and use of leaded gasoline.

   Article 39 Any violator of this Law shall, according to the circumstances of the case, be warned or fined by the competent environmental protection department or another supervisory and management department for any of the following acts:

(1) Refusing to report or submitting a false report on items for which registration is required by the environmental protection department under the State Council for the discharge of pollutants.

(2) Dismantling or leaving idle the installations for the prevention and control of pollutants without prior approval by the environmental protection department, or discharging pollutants in excess of the prescribed discharge standards.

(3) Refusing an on-site inspection by the competent environmental protection department or another supervisory and management department, or resorting to trickery and fraud during inspection;

(4) Burning, in violation of Article 28 of this Law, asphalt, asphalt felt and other substances that produce toxic or harmful smoke or dust or malodorous gases in densely inhabited areas; or

(5) Failing to pay, according to state provisions, the fee for excessive discharge of pollutants.

   Article 40 Whoever, in violation of the provisions of Article 15 of this Law produces, sells, imports or uses the equipment that is prohibited to produce, sell, import or use or employs the techniques that are prohibited to employ shall be ordered to make rectification by the competent department for comprehensive economic and trade affairs of the people's government at or above the county level; if the circumstances are serious, the said competent department shall put forward suggestions thereon and submit them to the people's government at the corresponding level, which shall, according to the limits of authority prescribed by the State Council, order the offender to suspend operation or close down.

   Article 41 When a construction project is put into operation or to use in circumstances where its facilities for the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution either have not been completed or fail to meet the requirements specified in the state provisions concerning environmental protection for such a construction project, the environmental protection department responsible for the examination and approval of the environmental impact statement on the construction project shall order the suspension of its operations or use and may concurrently impose a fine.

   Article 42 An enterprise or institution that has failed to eliminate or control pollution by the deadline as required shall, as provided for by the State, pay a fee for excessive discharge; in addition, a fine may be imposed on it on the basis of the damages incurred, or the enterprise or institution may be ordered to suspend its operations or close down.

The fine shall be decided by the competent environmental protection department. An order for the suspension of operations or shut-down of an enterprise or institution shall be issued by the people's government that set the deadline for the elimination or control of pollution. An order for the suspension of operations or shut-down of an enterprise or institution directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Government shall be submitted to and approved by the State Council.

   Article 43 An enterprise or institution which causes an atmospheric pollution accident through violation of this Law shall be fined by the competent environmental protection department on the basis of the damages incurred. In serious cases, the persons responsible shall be subject to administrative sanctions by the unit to which they belong or by a higher competent authority.

   Article 44 A party refusing to accept the decision on administrative sanction may bring a suit before a people's court within 15 days of receiving the notification on such a decision. If, upon the expiration of this period, the party has neither brought a suit nor complied with the decision, the organ which imposed the sanction may apply to the people's court for compulsory enforcement.

   Article 45 A unit that has caused an atmospheric pollution hazard shall have the responsibility of removing the hazard and of making compensation to the units or individuals that have suffered direct losses.

A dispute over the liability to make compensation or the amount of compensation may, at the request of the parties, be settled by an environmental protection department; if a party refuses to accept the decision, it may bring a suit before a people's court. The party may also bring a suit before the people's court directly.

   Article 46 If atmospheric pollution losses result directly from irresistible natural disasters which cannot be averted even after reasonable measures have been promptly taken, the party concerned shall be exempted from liability.

   Article 47 Should a serious atmospheric pollution accident occur that leads to any grave consequences of heavy public or private property losses or serious personal injuries or deaths, the criminal liability of the persons responsible for such an accident may be investigated by application of the provisions of Article 115 or Article 187 of the Criminal Law.

   Article 48 Any supervisory and management person for environmental protection who commits abuse of power or neglect of duty shall be subject to administrative sanction; if his act constitutes a crime, his criminal liability shall be investigated according to law.

CHAPTER VI SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS

   Article 49 The environmental protection department under the State Council shall, in accordance with this Law, formulate rules for its implementation, which shall be put into effect after being submitted to and approved by the State Council.

   Article 50 This Law shall come into force as of June 1,1988.